This grant proposal is being submitted in response to RFA-OD-09-005 that uses the P30 Biomedical Core Center funding mechanism to support the hiring of a newly-recruited faculty member whose research will augment and expand the research capacity of the institution's existing research community. The proposal seeks support to hire an identified Faculty Candidate who will join an interactive and multidisciplinary group of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) who are currently investigating the plasticity of alcohol addiction and dependence. MUSC has had a long-standing commitment to medical education about the broad negative consequences of alcohol/drug addiction, and a rich and diverse history of clinical as well as preclinical research in alcohol and substance abuse related problems. Alcoholism is a chronic relapsing disorder. Prolonged exposure to alcohol is associated with the development of tolerance and dependence, and alcohol addiction is characterized by craving for alcohol and compulsive alcohol-seeking behavior that often leads to excessive and harmful levels of drinking. Accumulating evidence suggests that these behavioral manifestations of the addiction process likely reflect neuroadaptive changes that are rooted in the plasticity of learning and memory. The proposed new faculty hire will augment and expand the research capabilities of the neuroplasticity Alcohol Core Center (ACC) group at MUSC. The ACC group of investigators at MUSC is actively engaged in numerous multidisciplinary and collaborative research projects. Thus, the new faculty member will be immersed in a highly supportive and productive academic environment with many prominent researchers in the addiction neuroscience field. The specific aims of this proposal are as follows. Aim 1 is to successfully recruit a highly promising and productive junior alcohol researcher into a tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Aim 2 is to provide an appropriate mentoring and research environment for the successful career development of the Faculty Candidate as an alcohol researcher. Aim 3 is to augment and expand the capability of the ACC in the neuroplasticity of alcohol dependence and addiction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Alcohol is a widely abused substance with tremendous personal, financial and social costs. The hiring of a new research faculty to augment the development of an Alcohol Core Center to study how alcohol exposure leads to changes in brain function that underlies this disorder may lead to the development of effective therapeutic treatments.